1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to scrapers, peelers and other manual surface conditioning instruments and more particularly to a scraping device for cleaning the top surface of the human tongue.
2. Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Castanedo, U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,964 provides a good understanding of the top surface of the tongue and ways in which it can become infested by microorganisms and thereby produce an exhaled breath odor that is anti-social. This patent discloses a single concave blade having a sharp edge, mounted on an elongate handle, the blade having a swept back curvature. Potti, U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,149 discloses a pair of spaced apart convex blades mounted on a handle, the blades formed with similar swept back curvature, a leading one of the blades being smooth and blunt, a second blade also blunt and having a rasp-like texture. Montagnino, U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,912 discloses a single, swept back, concave, blunt blade mounted on a vibratory handle. Adedokun discloses a generally flat, pointed, and sweptback blade with opposing ends having broad curvature; all mounted on a handle. Baker, Des. 367707 discloses a design for a straight flat and sharply pointed blade held by a handle. Other references were found to be in the same field as the present invention, but were considered too distinct in their structure to be considered relevant to the invention.
The related art described above discloses tongue scraping blades mounted on handles and intended for being positioned laterally on the tongue and moved manually by the handle so as to be drawn from a rear position on the top surface of the tongue toward the tip of the tongue. However, the prior art fails to take into account, the anatomical structure of the tongue, variations in tongue elasticity across the tongue's surface, ease of damage to the tongue's surface by relatively sharp blades, and comfort and convenience to those using such tongue cleaners. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown structural features resulting in advantages as described in the following summary.